30-year-old Instagram user charged with luring minors with drugs and alcohol for sex
Investigators are asking for the public's help in finding additional victims who may have been in contact with a 30-year-old man accused of sexually abusing children he met through Instagram.
Burbank police arrested Ivan Hernandez, from Valley Village, on March 23 after receiving a tip and conducting an investigation into suspected drug activity. Authorities said in a news release Thursday that Hernandez was found in his vehicle with an underage girl. He was arrested on suspicion of child endangerment and being in possession of nitrous oxide.
Detectives learned that Hernandez was supplying nitrous oxide, marijuana and alcohol to underage girls in exchange for sexual acts, according to police. Hernandez is believed to have recorded the sexual assaults on his phone and managed to lure his victims over Instagram with the promise of providing them drugs and alcohol for sex, investigators said.
According to police, Hernandez's Instagram handles include "noznbars," "n2ohead," "nawzhead818," "nozzhead_818," and "nozzhead818_" and they believe there could be more victims.
On March 25, he was charged with multiple felonies, including three counts of unlawful sex with a minor under 16, two counts of arranging to meet with a minor for lewd purposes and one count each of child endangerment, oral copulation of a minor under 16, lewd lascivious acts with a minor 14 or 15 years old, and possession of child sexual abuse material, according to police.
He is being held without bail and scheduled to appear in court on May 21. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges, according to court records.
Anyone with information about Hernandez and any other similar incidents can contact the Burbank Police Department at (818) 238-3210. The police investigation was done in partnership with Homeland Security Investigations under the Los Angeles Regional Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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